U of U Hospitals and Clinics Pharmacy Residency Program to Receive Prestigious ASHP Program Award

U of U Hospitals and Clinics Pharmacy Residency Program to Receive Prestigious ASHP Program Award

Nov 22, 2011 11:17 AM

SALT LAKE CITY –The University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics first-year pharmacy residency program will be honored with the annual Program Award by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) Research and Education Foundation during the 2011 Pharmacy Residency Excellence Awards reception at the ASHP 2011 Midyear Clinical Meeting in December. The Program Award, which recognizes a pharmacy residency program for excellence in the training of pharmacy residents and consistently provides an exceptionally positive and rewarding experience to its residents, will be given to the U of U Hospitals and Clinics Postgraduate Year 1 Residency Program.

This awards program, supported by an educational donation provided by Amgen, Inc., recognizes excellence in pharmacy residency training through recognition of residency programs, preceptors, and new preceptors. The recipients of this award have demonstrated excellence and innovation in training pharmacy residents and serve as models for other pharmacy residency programs and preceptors.

“Receiving the ASHP Foundation’s Pharmacy Residency Excellence Program Award is a major milestone for our PGY-1 program at the University of Utah Hospitals & Clinics,” said Shantel Mullin, Pharm.D., the U’s Pharmacy Manager and PGY-1 Residency Director. “We are honored to receive such a prestigious award from the ASHP Foundation. Our PGY-1 program’s success stems from the incredible dedication of our residency preceptors and residents, the support of forward-thinking hospital and pharmacy leaders, and an innovative practice model that supports a high level of pharmacist engagement in patient care and medication management. I am so proud to be the residency director for a program that provides the diverse experiences and mentoring that allow our graduates to be leaders in patient care and catalysts in moving our profession forward.”

The U of U Hospitals and Clinics Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY-1) Residency Program is a comprehensive and progressive training program that develops residents as clinicians, researchers, writers, preceptors and practice leaders. Residents work with strong pharmacist preceptor role models in acute, critical, and ambulatory care rotations that are on the leading edge of pharmacist involvement in patient care and drug therapy management. Residents also develop excellence in leadership with a talented group of pharmacy directors and managers and benefit from training in a premier drug information service.

The program offers more than 40 diverse rotations with 70 engaged and talented pharmacist preceptors throughout the health system. Residents quickly learn the university’s culture of exceptional patient care that is individualized to the needs of each person served in the hospitals and clinics and in the community at large. Residents participate in the teaching mission of the department through providing multiple presentations, completion of an innovative teaching certificate program, and working with the pharmacy intern training program. Research and project management skills are honed through both longitudinal and rotational projects.

Over the past 20 years, the PGY-1 program has produced leaders in a broad range of practices across the country. The University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics’ commitment to continually improving the quality of the PGY-1 program has led to a program that exemplifies excellence in residency training.

“Residency preceptors and program directors have the opportunity and the responsibility to influence, motivate, and cultivate the next generation of pharmacy practice leaders,” says Stephen J. Allen, ASHP Foundation Executive Vice President and CEO. “In administering the Pharmacy Residency Excellence Awards Program, the ASHP Foundation recognizes practitioners who demonstrate excellence and innovation in training residents. We work to share the success stories of these recipients with all residency program directors and preceptors as examples of successful strategies that they may consider applying in their own residency training programs.”

The awardees will be formally recognized at a reception to be held on Dec., 2011, in the New Orleans Hilton Riverside.

The ASHP Research and Education Foundation (www.ashpfoundation.org) was established in 1968 by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (www.ashp.org) as a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. As the philanthropic arm of ASHP, our vision is that patient outcomes improve because of the leadership and clinical skills of pharmacists, as vital members of the health care team, accountable for safe and effective medication use. Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of patients in health systems through appropriate, safe and effective medication use.